Binance US Review (2024): The Pros, Cons, and Features

If 2022 has taught us anything, it is that not all exchanges are created equal. If you are looking for a trustworthy crypto exchange, you have done well to find this Binance US Review.

This Binance US Review will tell you everything you need to know about this exchange, including trading fees, platform products, supported assets, and more.

Binance US TL;DR.

Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world by a large margin, used by tens of millions of users worldwide. To cater to the US market, Binance launched Binance US to provide Americans with an alternative to Coinbase and attract a more sophisticated level of trader.

Binance US is a trusted, reliable, and solid centralized exchange for US-based users.

Disclaimer: I am a Binance user and have held the BNB Coin as part of my personal investment strategy

Binance US Review: Summary

What is Binance US?

When it comes to cryptocurrency trading, Binance has established itself as a true leader in the space, and the largest exchange by a significant margin. Thanks to its user-friendly interface, wide variety of trading pairs, industry-leading security features, and massive selection of products, it is no wonder that Binance has become the go-to for novice, professional, and institutional traders alike.

Due to the stringent regulatory landscape in the United States, Binance launched Binance US to meet the requirements of the country. Like Binance, Binance US is a digital asset marketplace, also referred to more commonly as a cryptocurrency exchange. BAM Trading Services, a United States-based company, operates the US exchange. 

BAM Trading Services is a subsidiary of the larger Binance cryptocurrency trading platform, which is based in Malta, with global offices around the world. Binance US allows users to trade a variety of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and 140 other digital assets against other cryptocurrencies, USD, or USD stablecoins.

👉 Sign Up to Binance US and Trade 140+ Cryptocurrencies on the Top US Exchange!

In this article, we will take a comprehensive look at Binance US, a brief history of the Binance company behind the American counterpart, and explore its features, fees, and overall user experience.

Binance US is available in 45 states, with its sights set on hitting all 50 states within the coming years. Unfortunately, residents located in the following states will have to wait for now:

• Hawaii
• Idaho
• New York
• Texas
• Vermont

Overview of Binance and its History

Binance is the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of trading volume and customers, holding a dominating monopoly over the space.

The exchange was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao (affectionately referred to as CZ), a developer and entrepreneur with a background in finance. CZ studied at the prestigious McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. He then moved to Tokyo, where he worked as a software engineer and eventually became a successful trader in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Moving to Shanghai, he went on to found Binance in 2017.

Binance rose quickly to prominence in the crypto community due to its extensive selection of trading pairs, incredibly low fees, and professional-grade trading and matching engine that provides traders with a seamless trading experience. Binance was also the first real exchange to offer an “all in one” platform, robust enough with multiple features to cater to the needs of almost any crypto user. 

In 2018, Binance announced plans to launch the Binance DEX (decentralized exchange), then the following year, Binance acquired crypto tracking and news platform Coinmarketcap, and released its first-ever fiat-to-crypto exchange in Uganda.

Binance has also released several other platforms such as Binance Lending, Binance Staking, Binance Launchpad, Binance Academy, Binance Charity, and way more than I am able to cover here, but most pertinent to this article, launched Binance US in 2019. 

Binance, the international entity, has been the target of a significant amount of regulatory scrutiny and has been explicitly banned from operating in certain countries for wrongdoings. Notably, Binance also faced an investigation by the CFTC in the United States, which was the primary reason for splitting Binance and Binance US. 

Despite the regulatory hurdles that Binance has been forced to leap and stumble over as they blaze a trail along this new frontier, most in the industry find Binance to be a trustworthy and reputable exchange, but it is still worth being aware of the fact that Binance has faced these accusations. We go into greater detail about their turbulent history in our dedicated Binance article.

Binance is enjoyed by over 50 million registered users all over the world, and it continues to expand its services and products. CZ is also renowned for his selfless efforts in collaborating with global authorities, lending his experience and expertise to help craft reasonable and effective crypto regulations. Binance has received several awards for its contributions to the crypto industry and for its user-friendly platform.

CZ stepped down as CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge by US authorities. 

User Interface and Design of the Platform

Users can access the Binance US platform by website or the highly functional, well-rated mobile apps, available for IOS and Android.

A key criticism to be aware of with Binance is that brand-new users may find the interface and platform design quite overwhelming and cluttered. While Coinbase and Kraken are very beginner-friendly platforms, Binance is capable of meeting the needs of advanced traders, which results in the trading interface looking a little more “busy.”

Once you get used to the platform, or for traders who know their way around a trading exchange, the Binance US trading interface is well designed and intuitive, there isn’t much in the way of negativity that can be said about it. 

For traders who don’t need all the extra bells and whistles, Binance US also features a simple-to-use “one-click” trading feature which is great for new users who do not need to access a charting interface.

To purchase or sell cryptocurrency on Binance US, users simply need to log into their account and hit “Buy Crypto” where they will be taken through the step-by-step process of purchasing crypto via debit card, ACH, or bank transfer.

Users who are needing to trade can hit the appropriately named “Advanced Trading” button to view the charting interface that shows the different markets, asset performance, order history, and access the orderbooks and order placement screen. OTC trading is only available for users looking to trade over $10,000.

Overall, while the advanced trading interface may be better suited for experienced traders, beginners can access the Binance Academy to quickly learn the ropes. The trading experience on Binance is truly second to none.

If you prefer video format over reading through the Binance Academy, Guy put together this fantastic beginner’s guide to Binance. Though the video focuses on the international Binance platform, it is still relevant to the similar US version.

Binance US Review: Features

Great, now with all that done and dusted, let’s break into the meat and potatoes and see what Binance US has on offer.

Trading Interface

Since day one, Binance has been known for its high-speed trade execution, and powerful trading and matching engine. They were focused on attracting professional and institutional traders early on, and realized that you can’t attract the big players with a sub-par trading platform.

The interface offers a clear, contemporary and modern design that makes it easy to discover the data and tools users need to trade successfully. Users can easily place buy and sell orders, while accessing a vast range of charts and indicators powered by the industry-leading TradingView charting interface. TradingView has become the “go-to” for most professional traders and assists traders with all the tools they need to make informed trading decisions.

There is also a fantastic mobile Binance app for trading while on the road.

Binance US has plenty of liquidity and volume being traded at all times, so it doesn’t matter if you are trading $10 or $10,000 worth, you will have no issues having your orders filled when using Binance US.

As mentioned, the trading interface is easy to navigate and great for experienced traders. Though it is not as simple or straightforward as beginner-friendly platforms like Coinbase, it is worth new users learning the platform as it will save them from having to switch exchanges down the road if they decide they want to do more active trading. 

Within my years of being in the industry, a common story I hear from many crypto veterans is that many of them purchased their first Bitcoin on a platform like Coinbase, only to need to switch to Binance years later after they “outgrew” Coinbase, so may as well go with a platform that can meet your needs as a beginner, and can be with you throughout your entire crypto journey, and Binance is a great choice.

The biggest frustration from Binance US users is that it is significantly constrained in many ways compared to its parent business, Binance, such as having far fewer trading pairs, no futures products, no leverage trading, and fewer earn products. 

For what it does offer, Binance US is well-designed and offers a positive user experience, with great options for automated recurring investments and automated dollar-cost averaging strategies for traders.

Peer-to-Peer Trading

Binance US's OTC portal allows trading directly between buyers and sellers, without transaction fees but there will be a spread that users are charged between the buy and sell price.

Peer-to-peer trading provides a great alternative for traders wanting to swap assets with other traders without needing the whole charting interface and high-speed trading experience.

Staking/Binance Earn 

Binance Earn is one of the key features that allowed Binance to blow ahead of the competition, offering the most comprehensive Earn platform in the industry. 

Unfortunately, again, thanks to the strict regulations in the United States, as we saw when Coinbase politely asked the SEC for permission to offer Earn products, only to be rudely met with the threat of a lawsuit in return, Binance US is also a bit hand-tied and pales in comparison to their international counterpart for Earn products. 

Though they don’t have as much on offer as international exchanges, they still provide one of the best platforms for earning passive income for US-based users, with staking rewards available on an impressive 23 coins and rates up to 15% on some assets.

Rewards are calculated daily and distributed weekly, and assets can be unstaked at any time, though the amount of time assets take to unstake will vary depending on the cryptocurrency being staked.

Major coins supported currently are: 

• ETH
• BNB
• ADA
• MATIC
• SOL
• AVAX
• VET
• ATOM
• DOT
• NEAR
• XTX
• TRX

You can find the full list on the Binance US Staking page.

Binance Academy

At the Coin Bureau, we are big advocates of crypto education and believe that the key to mass adoption lies within education, so I have always had massive respect for Binance’s profound dedication to crypto education through their Binance Academy.

The Binance Academy is Binance’s educational platform that features hundreds of hours of content on blockchain, cryptocurrency, and how-to guides, covering topics such as how to use the Binance dex, what is blockchain?, crypto security, and plenty more, with much of the focus selflessly not even being Binance-centric. 

If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, it really is a great place to navigate to for anyone wanting to either brush up on their crypto knowledge, or even become crypto experts. They definitely have the second-best crypto educational platform out there, after the Coin Bureau, of course, 😉

Binance Convert

Binance convert is the easiest way to swap crypto for traders who don’t need access to the fancy charting interface or the advanced trading orders and features.

Convert is essentially “one-click” trading, where users select the asset they have, and the asset they want, and click convert, which simply swaps one asset for the other.

Binance US Mobile App

Binance US apps have great reviews and seem highly functional for both IOS and Android devices. The mobile app houses the same features and functions as the web platform, and are very useful for traders who need to monitor their trades, or even place trades while they are out and about.

I have used the regular Binance app myself for years and have never had any issues with it. It definitely came in handy during the times I was out and wanted to take advantage of a few flash crashes as I was able to pull out my phone and place a trade within seconds.

I cannot say that I have had the pleasure of using the Binance US app, but with 3.8 out of 5 stars on Google Play and 4.2 out of 5 on the App Store on over 110k reviews across each platform, from the reviews, it appears as if the app delivers well on exactly what it promises.

Guide- How to Get Started Trading on Binance US and Get Verified

The getting started process is fairly straightforward, with the largest criticism from users being that it can take weeks to get verified. Some users report being verified within 48 hours, while other more extreme reports mention waiting weeks, and I’ve even heard some users that have been waiting for months! 😳

Here are the straightforward steps on how to get started:

1. Visit the official website of the Binance US cryptocurrency exchange. If you don't already have an open account there, click on the Get Started button that’s located in the upper right corner of the screen, as well as in the center.

2. Fill in the fields with your personal information such as your email address, new password for login, confirm that you are at least 18 years old and have read the Binance US Terms of Use and Privacy Policy 

3. Confirm you are not a robot as robots are not eligible… yet. It's a good thing bots can't manage puzzles, apparently. 

4. The company will send an email with a verification code to the email you specified. Enter the received digits in the field provided. 

5. Once entered, you will be prompted to secure your account via SMS authentication. SMS authentication is used during this sign-up process, but I highly recommend switching to 2FA verification with something like Google Authenticator later to help protect against Swim Swap Attacks.

6. Enter the 6-digit SMS verification code sent to your phone and click Enable Authentication

7. And that's it for account creation, but hold your horses, partner, now you are going to want to get your account verified.

How to get Verified on Binance US

Basic Verification

1. If you are completing this step right after account creation, then you can skip to step 3. If you are logged in, you will need to head to the Account Dashboard like so: 

2. Now you will click verify identity at the top of the screen. 

3. Enter the last four digits of your Social Security Number (SSN). This is required by law, Uncle Sam wants to know everything. 

4. Now you will need to enter your full legal name, dob, SSN, blood type, likes and dislikes, last night's dinner, and sign over the rights of your firstborn child. Kidding, just those first three, but it is starting to feel like the latter aren't far off, give it a year or two. 

5. Enter your residential address and click confirm. 

This will result in the following scenarios:

• Successful- Depending on your State, you will either have to review an Account Agreement, or you will reach an Identity Verification Successful screen. 🥳
• Pending- Your documents have been received by the team and are being reviewed. Users will receive an email once the status has been updated. This process can take “a few days”.
• Unsuccessful- The ID verification attempt was unsuccessful. This could be because of incorrect or incomplete information. You will be able to try again and re-submit the information. 

Basic verification provides users with access to:

• USD Deposits & Withdrawals via:
  • Bank Transfer (ACH)
  • Debit Card
  • Apple Pay 
• The Buy, Sell, & Convert Crypto feature, including Auto-Buys 
• Crypto Deposits & Crypto Withdrawals 
• The Advanced Trading interface 
• Binance.US Staking 
• Binance.US Pay 

Advanced Verification (Optional)

Advanced verification provides users with access to additional functions and features on the platform. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Basic Info page in your settings, the same area that was accessed for basic verification.
2. Following the on-screen prompts, users will need to submit ID verification. This can be a driver's license, State ID, Passport, or Visa.
3. Facial Recognition Scan- Complete this using a webcam or phone camera.

Advanced verification provides users with:

• All Basic Verification features
• Wire Deposits & Withdrawals with higher limits
• Increased Limits for Bank Transfers, Debit Cards & Apple Pay
• OTC Trading 
• API Trading

Trading Pairs, Liquidity, and Cryptocurrencies Available on Binance US

According to CoinGecko, there are currently 148 coins and 332 trading pairs available on Binance US, which is less than most international exchanges, but is none-the-less, a good selection and beats out most US exchanges. It is unlikely traders won’t find anything of interest.

Binance US users can buy, sell, and trade popular assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), Cardano (ADA), basically, the most popular assets, as well as lesser-known assets like VeChain (VET) and Stacks (STX).

Binance US has deep liquidity, suitable for both retail and institutional traders, with a 24hr trading volume of over 300 million at the time of writing.

 For a full list of the cryptocurrencies available on Binance US, see the company’s Markets page.

Binance US Fees and Pricing Structure  

Binance US offers a tiered fee trading structure to their customers, with tier levels being based on a rolling 30-day trading volume. Binance operates on a Maker/Taker fee system, similar to most crypto exchanges.

Binance US has a huge flex here, and that is that they are the only major US exchange to offer fee-free Bitcoin and Ethereum trading against USD and USD stablecoins. All other trades fall under Tier I or Tier II.

That's right. In 2022, Binance waged an all-out war on the competition, surprising the industry as they announced they would be eliminating spot trading fees on Bitcoin, allowing users to make spot Bitcoin trades for the U.S. dollar and stablecoins USDT, USDC, and BUSD for free. They later expanded the offering to include Ethereum as well. 

Binance fees were already the lowest in the industry, and they’ve upped the game even more as you can’t get much lower than free.

Tier 1 trades start with a 0.4% taker and 0.6% maker fee for traders with less than $10,000 trading volume within a 30-day period. 

Here is a look at the Binance US fee structure:

Traders who opt to use the Binance Coin (BNB) to pay for fees will receive a 25% reduction in trading fees, making the highest price traders pay coming in at just 0.3% for maker and 0.45% for taker.

Binance US doesn’t charge fees for depositing crypto, but there are variable withdrawal fees, which depend on the asset being withdrawn. You can find this info on the Binance US Withdrawal Fees page.

For the convenience of using the “instant buy/sell” features, Binance tacks on a 0.5% fee, so it is a good idea to get familiar with the trading interface to keep fees at a minimum.

Despite the low trading fees, one thing that traders should be mindful of for most crypto trading platforms is the method they choose to deposit.

Pro Tip❗️: Like most exchanges, Binance US charges a pretty hefty 3.75% fee for debit card deposits. Though debit card deposits are convenient, users are better off depositing via ACH or Wire transfer to save the most in fees. We will cover those fees below.

Binance US Review: Deposits and Withdrawals

Users can deposit USD using Bank Transfer (ACH), Debit card, and Apple Pay. For Domestic Wires, users will need to undergo advanced verification process.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

Here are a look at the fees for deposits and withdrawals on Binance US:

There are also withdrawal fees for moving your crypto holdings from your Binance US account into a crypto wallet or other exchange. This is standard across most exchanges, with the fees varying depending on the type of cryptocurrency.

Binance US Review: Security and Safety Measures

Users on Binance can protect their accounts by enabling the following security features:

• Strong passwords
• Biometrics on smartphones
• 2FA via SMS or Google Authenticator
• Whitelist crypto withdrawal addresses
• View device login history

2FA is mandatory for users, I highly recommend using Google as many people have had their bank accounts and crypto accounts hacked into by Sim Swap Attacks when relying on SMS 2FA.

It is important to point out that the parent company Binance suffered a hack in 2019, where criminals stole more than $40 million in BTC. All customers were reimbursed and Binance has since updated its security protocols and is now one of the most secure exchanges in the world, ranking #5 on Certified, an independent security auditing firm, while Binance US ranks #6.

Binance US was not affected by the hack and has never suffered any known security breaches. Users can rest easy knowing that Binance US takes the following measures in securing their funds:

• The majority of funds are safely stored in offline, cold storage facilities.
• 24/7 real-time platform monitoring for suspicious account activity.
• Multisignature and threshold signature schemes (TTS) help ensure the safety and integrity of user funds.
• Advanced data encryption. 

It is comforting to note that all U.S. dollar deposits at Binance US are FDIC Insured against bank failure for up to $250,000. There has been a lot of confusion about FDIC insurance and crypto exchanges over the past year. To clarify, crypto is not insured by FDIC, but any U.S Dollars deposited on Binance US are routed to bank accounts which are insured against bank failure.

On the topic of insurance, Binance, the international platform, sets aside a significant amount of its profits to reimburse customer funds in the event of a hack. This is called the SAFU fund. It is unclear whether or not Binance US has funds set aside to help reimburse customer assets in the unfortunate event of a security breach, but this is hopefully the case.

Users who are interested in self-custody, which should be about everyone after the FTX, Celsius, and BlockFi collapse, may be interested to know that Binance acquired Trust Wallet in 2018 to become the official self-custodial wallet for Binance users.

Trust Wallet is a free mobile crypto wallet that enables users with the ability to safely store their cryptocurrency. It is highly rated and one of the most multi-functional crypto wallets available. You can learn more about it in our Trust Wallet Review, but it is a solid alternative to keeping your funds secure and taking them off exchanges. 

You can learn more about the best methods for storing cryptocurrency in our comprehensive Guide to Crypto Safety.

Binance US Review: Customer Support 

As far as customer support goes, Binance US could up their game a bit. After reading multiple reviews and testing the live chat function myself, their support quality and response times are “meh” at best, and leave much to be desired.

It would be nice if Binance US support was as high quality as the international platform, but it doesn’t quite measure up. Customer support is incredibly important for crypto traders, as the difference between good and bad support response times can be the difference between losing a trade or losing your entire trading account, which can happen in a matter of minutes.

In my Coinbase review, I tell a story about a time when the above scenario happened to me when I used to trade stocks and forex, and how I was able to reach a customer service rep in less than 30 seconds. That quick response time did indeed, save my entire trading account after experiencing a stop-loss glitch that exposed 100% of my capital to a trade in an extremely volatile market. Talk about a near heart-attack experience. 

I tested the live chat support on the Binance.US Support page over the span of a few days, never receiving a response in under 30 minutes, which isn’t great. In one instance, I waited about 3 hours for a response and in another; I had to wait over 24 hours and received an email response. The Trustpilot site also features multiple similar reviews from frustrated users experiencing slow response times. 

Though we need to be mindful of sites like Trustpilot as we know competitors looking to tarnish the reputation of the competition can pay for negative reviews and have them posted. This is one reason I find blockchain review sites like Revain interesting.

For non-urgent queries, users can alternatively submit tickets or email support if they need assistance. The Binance Support site is a good resource for self-help though, with enough FAQs and tutorials to address most common issues that users may face.

For non-urgent queries, users can alternatively submit tickets or email support if they need assistance. The Binance Support site is a good resource for self-help though, with enough FAQs and tutorials to address the majority of common issues that users may face.

Another complaint from some users is that there is no live phone support. I can’t say this is surprising, phone support isn’t offered by many exchanges, with Kraken being the exception. 

If customer support is important to you, you may want to check out Kraken. Their customer support is scary good, rated #1 in the industry by independent examiners, and yours truly.

If I were to place Binance US support on a sliding scale, I would place them on the “poor” side, better than Coinbase and KuCoin, while not nearly as good as Kraken or SwissBorg. So basically, let’s call it a C- with room for improvement.

Where Binance US Shines

Binance US offers over 140 cryptos, one of the best selections for US traders, and the most fully featured cryptocurrency staking selection. 

Users can stake an impressive 26 different cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Cardano, Polygon, VeChain, Solana, Avalanche, Cosmos, NEAR, Polkadot, and more with APYs as high as 15%

Binance US is highly secure, and has always been a crowd favourite for rock-bottom fees, with many BTC and ETH pairs now available to be traded for zero fees!

To sum up, Binance US is a fairly easy-to-use platform that offers an excellent venue for US-based crypto traders.

Where Binance US Falls Short

The U.S. edition of Binance offers fewer digital assets and products than the parent company, due to the restrictive regulatory framework in the United States. We can’t really blame this on the company, but it is still worth mentioning.

One trick they are definitely missing is that they do not offer Futures or margin trading. US-based users should check out Kraken if they are interested in Futures trading with leverage. 

It would be nice to see Binance US improve its customer support as well, I was quite disappointed to see how much worse it was than the support offered on the international platform.

The final one, which is a biggie, is the nightmarish horror stories regarding the verification process. While some users breeze through, we can’t write this review and not mention the multiple frustrated customers that have had to wait weeks for verification, or just get flat-out denied for reasons unknown to them.

The final elephant in the room comes in the form of regulation. While there is nothing necessarily “unsafe” regarding the regulation of Binance US, its tumultuous history may put some traders off. Traders who only want to use the most licensed and regulatory-friendly exchange would be well suited to Coinbase. Kraken is also a regulation-friendly site.

Binance US Review: Conclusion

I hope you found this Binance US review helpful. Overall, Binance is a solid choice for anyone looking to trade a wide variety of cryptocurrencies. The trading interface is user-friendly and can meet the needs of both beginner and advanced traders. The strong security and low fees make it a top choice for Americans looking for an exchange that won’t break the bank. 

I have no issues recommending Binance US as a trusted and reliable exchange. 

👉 Sign Up to Binance US and Trade 140+ Cryptocurrencies on the Top US Exchange!